Qatar Airways announce eight destinations, a target of 3.3m passengers

Qatar Airways announce eight destinations, a target of 3.4m passengers

FTWA.

Qatar Airways has announced a further eight routes in 2020 across Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Europe, with the first – Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan – taking off on the 30^th March, barely two months away. None of these eight have direct competition.

Destination	Weekly frequency	Start date	Aircraft
Accra, Ghana (via Lagos)	7	15 April	B787-8
Almaty, Kazakhstan	2*	1 April	A320
Cebu, Philippines	3	8 April	B787-8
Luanda, Angola	4	14 October	B787-8
Lyon, France	5	23 June	B787-8
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan	2	30 March	A320
Siem Reap, Cambodia	3	16 November	B787-8
Trabzon, Turkey	3	20 May	A320
Source: Qatar Airways. *Four from 25 May.

Continued focus on seasonal, thinner destinations

These eight – including Cebu, a resumption – join a host of others already announced for this year, including Dubrovnik, Croatia; Osaka, Japan (resumption); and Santorini, Greece. Qatar Airways’ focus on seasonal and thinner destinations is clear. They’re made possible by the carrier’s growing connectivity (fewer passengers required per online connection), right-sized aircraft, and often very efficient aircraft.

Traffic opportunity of ~3.3 million

In 2019 and excluding non-stop passengers, 3.3 million flew to/from these eight destinations. This “potential” is based on “logical” traffic flows (some flexibility is given!). They exclude non-stop passengers because they’d be less likely to switch. The table, below, is simply indicative for Qatar Airways.

Destination	Local Doha	Middle East*	Africa*	Europe	Asia-Pacific	Total
Accra	9,200	46,000	n/a	375,000	140,900	619,100
Almaty	2,400	26,000	15,500	619,000	164,400	827,300
Cebu	25,000	42,300	7,200	171,400	n/a	245,900
Luanda	900	18,800	n/a	248,000	125,700	396,600
Lyon	6,200	41,000	213,000	n/a	330,600	600,800
Nur-Sultan	500	14,800	10,600	334,000	80,600	449,700
Siem Reap	700	5,500	2,500	145,000	n/a	153,700
Trabzon	6,400	68,000	2,400	n/a	5,700	82,500
Total	51,300	262,400	251,200	1,892,400	847,900
Source: OAG Traffic Analyser. Relevant and logical areas only, such as no North Africa for Lyon. *Excluding countries Qatar Airways is banned from serving.